Village of Lewiston working to acquire Frontier House

by jmaloni

Sat, Jul 6th 2013 11:00 am

The historic Frontier House.

Petition
encourages support

Article
and photo by Joshua Maloni

News
broke Sunday that the Village of Lewiston created a petition seeking
support for restoration of the historic Frontier House. Throughout
this week, residents visiting the mayor's office in the Red Brick
Municipal Building have been encouraged to sign the document. To
date, more than 500 have obliged. In doing so, they asked one
question: What's going on with the Frontier House?

"What
we're trying to do, basically, is to purchase the property,"
Mayor Terry Collesano said Tuesday.

Since
May, the Village Board has met at least three times in executive
session to discuss acquiring the Frontier House, which was built in
1824 and has sat vacant since 2004. Trustees have spoken with
building owner Richard Hastings, attorney Maxwell Coykendall, and
with Hormoz Mansouri, who is Hastings' partner on a planned
adjoining condominium complex.

Collesano
said the village is hoping to obtain a Transportation Enhancement
Program reimbursement grant from the state Department of
Transportation. The village is looking for $3 million, which would
include funding to complete the purchase and to renovate the
property.

"The
$3 million would handle the restoration of the exterior of the
building, as well as most of the interior of the building,"
Collesano said. "There's two other sources that we're going to
go after, as well. There's the coastal zone management, which we
are now in the process of doing the coastal zone management from the
waterfront all the way up Center Street. That way we can include the
Frontier House in it, and try for that grant. There's one other
(source) that we're also going to go through, for immediate funds,
through Greenway. We're going to try that one, as well."

The
U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's coastal management program is described on the
NOAA website as working to "preserve, protect, develop and, where
possible, restore and enhance the nation's coastal zone resources."
Greenway funding, meanwhile, comes through the New York Power
Authority relicensing agreement.

"The
petition is for the (DOT) grant," Collesano said. "In order to
receive the grants, it's imperative that we have signatures of
support of the people."

"What
we're trying to do is, we're trying to roll the purchase price
into the grant," he added. "In order to do that, there's
certain criteria that we have to follow for the grant. We went to
Buffalo yesterday, the state of New York's Department of
Transportation, hoping that we could roll that into it. We can do it,
but in order to do that, we have to wait for about a year. It takes
about a year for procedure. We have to do a SEQRA; we have to write a
letter of intent. We still believe that we can have everything done
by the deadline for the grant, which is Aug. 15. That gives us a
month to work on it.

"We
still need to have an open meeting, which we plan on doing on the
15th of July, for the public - we have to have public input on it."

Collesano
said the village, financially, could purchase the property right now.
However, "we'd have to float a bond for it. And to do that, then
we're holding ourself back."

"If
we have to buy it outright, then the village people are going to lose
out on it," he added. "So, we're trying to do everything proper
and, in order to do it proper, there's so many hoops that we've
got to jump through and hurdles we've got to go over in order to do
it properly. But that's what we're doing. We're going to pursue
it."

The
DOT grant would require the village to give back 20 percent through
in-kind funds - in this case, most likely "in-kind contributions
of labor or materials that are an integral component of the project
(DOT website)," and would come from the village's Department of
Public Works.

The
grant will likely be awarded in the fall and dispersed next summer or
fall.

Mansouri,
who is president of the Buffalo-based E.I. Team, said the Village
Board and Clerk Anne Welch "are doing a tremendous work. They have
been behind the project, to revitalize the Frontier House."

"The
opportunity has presented itself to own the Frontier House and
promote it, and refurbish it and promote it to its glory days of the
1800s. I think that is tremendous progress for the Village of
Lewiston," he added.

In
2011, Hastings, Mansouri and former Frontier House partner John
Bartolomei, a Niagara Falls attorney, proposed adding a multi-story
condominium development above the property's parking lot. Last
year, Hastings' son, Alan, who operates The Silo Restaurant,
expressed interest in converting the Frontier House into a
microbrewery similar to Buffalo's Pearl Street Grill & Brewery.

On
Tuesday, Mansouri said, "we have come up with an agreement in
principle to go forward with the Frontier House, as well as the
condominiums. So both of them are going forward."

He
said it's going to cost a lot of money to refurbish and reopen the
Frontier House. At the same time, "Utilization of public funds for
private use is prohibited," he said. So, "to secure the necessary
funding for the village, it is essential for the village to have a
right to decide (what goes into the Frontier House)."

In
other words, the Village of Lewiston would need a controlling
interest in the property and have an idea of what it will be used for
in the future.

Mansouri
said, "Yes, absolutely, we are working with the village on that
route. We are working diligently with the village, and we want to
support the village and village trustees and the mayor (in any way)
to promote that idea."

In
return, Hastings and Mansouri would be granted permission to build
condominiums. The most recent design showed a J-shaped complex
sitting kitty-corner to the Frontier House and facing Ridge Street.
It would be between three and five stories, with between 25 and 27
units. Targeted tenants would be baby boomers.

Traffic
would enter via Center Street and enter and exit on Ridge Street.
There could be as many as 27 covered parking spaces, and an
additional 37 parking spaces surrounding the development.

"There
have been some people in the village that they are opposing a massive
building," Mansouri said. "We're trying to find a way to work
with the village ... to ensure everybody's thoughts are
incorporated into the new building, the condominiums. Under no
circumstances do we want anybody to be offended by a big building,
because we have that harmony built into (Lewiston), and a lot of
people would like to hold on to it, and we want to accommodate them."

Mansouri
said there is "strong support" in the community for such a
condominium development. "We also know the village trustees and the
mayor, they have a strong position in terms of (ensuring) the
public's thoughts are incorporated into the new project. For that
reason, we are working to finalize the type of the building it will
be, and the number of the condominium (units)."

"We
have to come up with a middle ground that everybody's happy," he
said. "You don't want to offend anybody. Bottom line. Offending
the public is not a good idea in any project."

Leandra
Collesano, vice president of the Historical Association of Lewiston
(and Mayor Terry Collesano's daughter), was appointed to the
Frontier House Restoration Committee. In a Facebook post, she wrote,
"If you know me, you know about my passion for Lewiston and (its)
rich heritage. ... Our first task is to see if there is community
support in restoring the Frontier House at 460 Center Street in the
Village. Once that support is confirmed through paper and online
petitions, we'll have the ammunition we need to apply for grants to
help with the restoration project.

"Built
in 1824, The (Frontier) House is one of the oldest structures in the
Town of Lewiston. It's been listed on the National Register of
Historic Places since 1974. A slew of famous people have visited the
Frontier House, including President McKinley on the day he was shot,
The Marquis de Lafayette, King Edward VII, New York Governor Dewitt
Clinton, Charles Dickens, Jenny Lind, Washington Irving and Daniel
Webster. The building has been vacant and in disrepair for almost 10
years."

The
online and paper petitions read, "We the undersigned support the
Village of Lewiston in the restoration of the Historic Frontier House
located at 460 Center Street, Lewiston NY. The restoration of this
historic building will help preserve our history and heritage of our
region. This great asset of The Niagara Frontier has served the world
well, but it now needs help. Treasured properties should be passed on
in good condition to future generations. The Frontier House deserves
assistance."

Leandra
wrote about the Frontier House committee's unsuccessful effort last
year to have the building included on the National Trust for Historic
Preservation's "11 Most Endangered Historic Sites" list. She
said the committee "is now gathering petition signatures to show
there is community support to restore the Frontier House."